Dream On (Stories of Serendipity #2) (35 page)

Steven’s gruff voice came over the speaker.
 “Quit talking and bring my baby back, Colt.”

Dalton wanted to punch the asshole, but he settled for switching the power off on the walkie-talkie and concentrating on his steps. The exhausted little girl had fallen asleep in his arms, and he felt a certain sense of anxiety at what she had been through.
 He didn’t even know how long she had been missing, how long she had been hurt in the middle of the dark woods, alone.  His anger at Steven renewed itself.  How could he have not been watching her?  Dalton would think that watching the kids enjoying the carnival would be enough, without having to go get your rocks off with Stephanie.

By the time he made it back to the infirmary, there was an ambulance waiting outside, lights on and sirens off. Dalton had worked himself into a raging lather, but when Alyssa and Steven came rushing outside, he ignored Steven and put Sierra into Alyssa’s arms.

Alyssa held Sierra close, smelling the top of her head, kissing her face, before she handed the child to the emergency medical technician that had accompanied the ambulance.  Watching attentively, while the ambulance attendant worked over Sierra, Dalton held Cayden in his arms.

“Dalton?”
 Cayden asked quietly.

“Yes?”

“Is she gonna be okay?” 

Dalton put his arm around the little man, whose tiny voice melted his heart.  “Yeah, buddy.
 She’ll be just fine.  She hurt her ankle
,
and is probably really scared, but she’ll be fine after she rests some.”

The medical technicians had woken her up to check her reflexes and pupil dilation.  They wrapped her ankle in a brace and turned to Alyssa.

“She’ll need an x-ray, and we can take her to the ER in the ambulance, but they won’t be able to do anything if it’s broken.
 They’ll just wrap it back up and send you to the pediatrician on Monday.  She’s not dehydrated, and I don’t see any early shock symptoms.  I honestly don’t see anything else wrong with her.”

Dalton knew they probably weren’t supposed to say that, but he was glad they had.
 Their words seemed to relax Alyssa more than anything else.  She nodded eagerly, and took Sierra back into her arms.

“Just take her home, and keep her warm and happy.
 That’s the best thing for her right now.”  The ambulance driver got into his seat
,
and drove away.

Having been in the background up until now, Steven walked up to Alyssa.  “I’m so sorry.  I can’t tell you how bad I feel about this.”

Dalton stepped up.
 “Leave us alone, Steven.  We’ll take the kids home to Alyssa’s.  See you next week.”  The rage he had felt earlier was still bubbling below the surface, but Dalton managed to keep it bridled.  Now was not the time to release it.  He followed Alyssa to his car, carrying Cayden, who had fallen asleep in his arms, while Steven followed with car seats.

After getting the children in and situated,
Dalton
he
helped an exhausted Alyssa into the passenger side of the car.  When he got into the driver
’s seat, he looked at her, clasping her hand to him.
 “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,
 I’m just wiped out.  That was the most terrifying experience of my life.”

Small sniffles came from the back seat.
 Dalton and Alyssa both looked back at Sierra, who was crying softly. 

“Aww...honey.
 It’s okay.  You’re okay, now.”  Alyssa reached back and squeezed her knee.  Sierra grabbed Alyssa’s hand and held it tightly, while something inside Dalton took flight.  These were his women, and he would do anything to protect them.  He looked over at Cayden, still sleeping in his booster seat, head lolling to the side, mouth open, drool slipping down his chin.  Yeah, his sidekick.  They would take care of the women.

After driving carefully home, he helped Alyssa carry both children into the house and lay them on their bed.
 Stripping them down to their underwear, and forgoing the pajamas, Dalton and Alyssa climbed into bed with them to watch them sleep.

Soon, Dalton heard Alyssa’s breathing turn rhythmic, and he looked over the children to see she was sleeping, serenely.
 He debated whether to let her sleep there, or in her own bed, and decided she looked too peaceful
there
, and he couldn’t disturb her.
 

Gently rolling out of the bed, Dalton crept quietly to Alyssa’s room.
 He took off his clothes and slipped under her covers without turning on a light.  As he inhaled deeply of her scent on the pillows, he thought about what had happened that night.

The rush of adrenaline he had when he was searching for Sierra was fueled by panic and his gut clenched when he thought of not being able to find her. Granted, it rarely got all that cold around here, but it was chilly, and her princess costume didn’t really protect her from any type of weather.
 Dalton said a quick prayer of thanks for Sierra’s safe return.

He tossed and turned in Alyssa’s bed, missing her warmth next to him.
 He wanted to go get her, but couldn’t justify the possibility of waking the children.  So, he stayed where he was, yawning, breathing in the smell of Alyssa
,
and finally fell asleep.

Chapter 28

Alyssa had come to her bed sometime in the night, and Dalton woke up with her in his arms.  As he watched her breath gently move a lock of hair, he realized he had lost himself to her.  As he gazed at her sleeping, fantasizing about what to do with his morning erection, he heard the pounding of little footsteps come down the hallway towards her room.

The thought of the inappropriateness of the children finding him in their mother’s bed was fleeting, before the door flew open, and two sleep-tousled cherubs barreled into the room and flung themselves on the bed.

Alyssa woke with a smile, instantly in mommy-mode, and held her arms out for the kids to pile into.

“Who wants pancakes?”
 Dalton asked, eager to lose the evidence of his attraction to the mother next to him.

“I do!”
 Sierra threw herself onto his lap, smothering him with sleepy kisses.  

“Me too!”
 Cayden was right there with his sister, and Dalton looked at Alyssa helplessly, who was giggling into the back of her hand. 

Cayden looked up at Dalton from the big man’s lap, and said shyly, “Dalton?  Are you gonna stay?  We missed you.  Mommy cried.  A lot.”

Dalton swallowed past the lump forming in his throat, and reached out to tousle the boy’s already mussed hair.  “Of course.  Wild horses couldn’t drag me away from you guys.  I missed you, too.”  He cleared his throat, “Now, if you want pancakes, y’all are gonna have to let me up.  I can’t move
,
with you two all over me, now, can I?”

The kids refused to move, latching themselves onto him tighter.  Evidently, they were feeling playful.

“How does your ankle feel this morning, sweetie?”
 Alyssa asked Sierra.

“It’s way better, Mommy.
 I barely feel anything, now.”

“Well, we’ll still go to the doctor Monday, just to have it checked out.
 You need to take it easy today, just in case.”

“Does that mean I can watch movies all day?”
 Sierra asked hopefully.

“Yes, ma’am, it does.”

“Yay!!!”  Sierra let go of Dalton briefly to do a bouncy, happy dance on the bed.  Dalton used the opportunity to extricate himself from Cayden and swing his feet over the edge of the bed.

“I’ll go start breakfast.”
 He said.

“I’ll put some cartoons on for you guys to watch.”
 Alyssa added, getting out of bed as well.

In the kitchen, Dalton had put Cayden to work, stirring the batter, while he fried up some bacon in the skillet.
 Cayden was managing to get more batter on the countertop than the bowl, and Dalton was standing over him, showing him how to stir gently.

When Alyssa came into the kitchen, she was overtaken by the picture of domesticity that Dalton and Cayden evoked.  Silently, she again wished Steven could see this side of Dalton, instead of
the
clinging to whatever illusions he had.  

Walking up behind Dalton, she put her arms around his waist and kissed his bare back between his shoulder blades.
 She sniffed in his sleepy smell, resting her head there briefly, before pulling plates down from the cabinet to set the table.

“I made coffee.”
 Dalton said quietly, intent on the task of stirring batter with Cayden.

“Thank you.”
 Alyssa moved to fix herself a cup.

“You get Sierra situated?”
 He asked her.

“Yes, she’s on the couch in the living room with her foot propped up, watching Bugs.
 Happy girl.”

“Good.”

“Mommy!  I’m helping Dalton make pancakes!  And later he said I could make my own recipe for dinner.  Scrambled Egg Soup!”

“Oh that sounds...delicious...”
 Alyssa had her doubts about that one, but couldn’t resist Cayden’s enthusiasm.

“I told him it would go well with the quiche I’m going to make you guys.”
 Dalton added.

“He also said I’m his psychic!
 Isn’t vat awesome?”  Cayden piped up.

“Um...yeah?”
 She looked at Dalton, questions in her eyes.

“Side-kick, buddy.
 Side-kick.”  Dalton corrected.

“Vat’s what I said.  Psychic.”

With the table set
,
and coffee in hand, Alyssa went to take a shower.
 She hadn’t showered since yesterday, and she needed to wash off last night’s anxiety.  As she stood under the hot stream, she thought about Dalton.  She wanted him to be a part of her children’s life.  It was obvious to her he loved them.  He had gone crashing through the woods at night to look for Sierra, hadn’t he?  He had been almost as panicked as she was, but he hadn’t let the hysteria take over.  He had retained a calm facade
,
and done what logically needed to be done to find her.

Alyssa found herself crying in the shower.  She didn’t know if they were tears of relief Sierra had been found, or tears of frustration Steven was going to continue with his attempt to take her children away from her.

After toweling herself off, Alyssa got dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt before going to check on Sierra and breakfast.

Sierra was at the table with her foot propped up.  The table was loaded with pancakes, bacon, eggs, orange juice, and a carafe of coffee.  Dalton was talking in funny accents, cracking the kids up.  She sat herself at the table, an amused expression on her face.

“I could get used to this.”
 Alyssa said, as she helped herself to a stack of pancakes.

Dalton passed her the syrup.
 “I’m planning on you getting used to it.”  His eyes bored into hers.

“You’re just going to get us all spoiled.”
 She pretended, for the kids’ sake that their position in her house wasn’t being threatened.

“I would love to spoil all three of you.”
 His voice was serious, as he looked at her.

Alyssa felt anchored around Dalton.
 Before she had met him, she was constantly a hair’s breadth from flying off the handle
,
in any given situation.
 Dalton grounded her, made her feel like she was more of a woman, in all ways.  She felt like a better mother around him.  She felt like a lover.  He made her feel like her needs were important.  He treasured her, and she liked it.  Watching him with her children, she realized they loved him, too.  She wanted him around forever. 

As they were finishing breakfast, her phone rang.

“I’ll do the dishes, just let me get this first.”  She looked at the caller ID.  It was Steven.  Stifling a groan of dread, she answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hi.”

“Hi, Steven.”

“I’m sorry to call so early.  I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Well, this was new.
 Steven never apologized.  Ever. “That’s okay.  We’re just finishing up breakfast.”

“Is Dalton there?”
 Another first.  Steven had never called him Dalton before
,
and certainly not in a civilized tone of voice.
 

Alyssa paused before answering.
 “Yes, he is here.”

“Good, because I need to talk to him, too.”

“Steven, please...”
He interrupted her, which was not new.  “I wanted to apologize for last night, Alyssa.  I should have been keeping a better eye on the kids.  I just assumed since there were people everywhere, she would be safe.”